If software is indeed “eating the world,” as famed venture capitalist and prognosticator on pretty much everything Marc Andreessen once opined, then it goes without saying that the pipes that have the unenviable task of carrying that software become ever more critical. The more important the internet, the more the underlying network of undifferentiated “dumb pipes” becomes important.
This has led to the rise of myriad vendors that all help to ensure those “dumb pipes” keep working.
